Nicole Russin-McFarland

A quirky, sweet former New York agency model harnessing the power of the Internet into a personal brand as a credible film director and film score composer reads like a Wes Anderson movie plot. In a career twist impossible before the millennial era, Nicole Russin-McFarland made a name for herself turning online views of her films and her social media presence into recognition for her filmmaking and film music. Born on June 26, 1987 in Chicago, Illinois, Russin was once an 11-year old music student pretending to write the scores for movies she directed, inspired by the success stories of Hans Zimmer and James Horner. A lifelong admirer of kawaii Japanese works, blockbuster action movies, science fiction flicks, Pedro Almodóvar films, and Disney movies, Russin knew she wanted to be a movie director when, gifted with the DVD at 13, she fell in love with the Ridley Scott epic, "Gladiator." After watching the first "Lord of the Rings" installment at the cinema when she was 14, Russin was i